Immigrants

The immigrant population in the United States has burgeoned over the past few decades. From 1990 to 2006, the number of immigrants rose from 20 million to more than 37 million. Urban Institute immigration policy experts study how the foreign-born population is growing, integrating, and changing.

We have analyzed immigrants' contributions to the labor force and the economy, tracked fast-growing immigrant communities, studied the effect of No Child Left Behind on immigrant children and English Language Learners, and surveyed foreign-born households’ health, well-being, and economic mobility. Read more.

From 2010 to 2030 the United States will become more racially and ethnically diverse, but demographic projections suggest the patterns of increasing diversity will vary widely across cities and regions. We project changes in the population shares across geographies for four major groups: Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic whites, and non-Hispanic others. Though growing diversity across the United States will be welcome in many ways, it will also bring challenges to areas in which different groups increase in population share.

The Mapping America's Futures project has developed multiple series of population projections for 740 commuting zones in the United States by age, race, and ethnicity. This brief explains the assumptions and methodology of our population projections.

The Mapping America’s Futures project has developed multiple series of population projections by age, race, and ethnicity for the 740 commuting zones in the United States. This brief examines the diverse population structures and growth patterns across four commuting zones in 2010 to illustrate the variances in populations across the United States that influence the 2030 projections.

National population projections from the Census Bureau foresee growth of nearly 49 million people between 2010 and 2030. We explore where in the United States that growth could occur using scenarios from Urban Institute's new "Mapping America’s Futures: Population" tool. The scenarios provide food for thought about how birth, mortality, and migration might play out differently across the nation. All three of these fundamental demographic drivers will affect a region's future age structure, labor force composition, and diversity. Conversely, a region's age structure, labor force composition, and diversity today will affect birth, death, and migration in the future.

Puerto Rico eliminated its work tax credit (WC) in 2014. The credit, which was established in 2006, delivered benefits to 45 percent of all tax filers in 2013 at a total cost $124 million. The maximum credit was $450. This report assess the experience with the WC from 2007 to 2013 and suggests elements for a possible redesign that rewards and stimulates work, reduces hardship, strengthens the tax base, and offsets regressivity in ways that are consistent with current tax reform proposals in Puerto Rico.

The Immigrant Access to Health and Human Services project describes the policy contexts that affect immigrant access to health and human services. The study describes the federal, state, and local program eligibility provisions related to immigrants, barriers to immigrants’ access to health and human services for which they are eligible, and innovative practices that can help states manage their programs. This brief presents data on poverty rates and receipt of two public benefits -- SNAP and TANF – for immigrant and US-born families. We find that children with foreign-born parents are overrepresented among poor families, but underrepresented in public benefits enrollment.

The Immigrant Access to Health and Human Services project describes the legal and policy contexts that affect immigrant access to health and human services. The study aims to describe federal, state, and local program eligibility provisions related to immigrants, major barriers to immigrants’ access to health and human services for which they are legally eligible, and innovative or promising practices that can help states manage their programs. This brief, drafted in late 2013, describes how the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) in California might affect immigrants’ access to health care in the state.

The Immigrant Access to Health and Human Services project describes the legal and policy contexts that affect immigrant access to health and human services. The study aims to identify and describe federal, state, and local program eligibility provisions related to immigrants, major barriers to immigrants’ access to health and human services for which they are legally eligible, and innovative or promising practices that can help states manage their programs. This brief describes innovative practices that community-based organizations have used to address under-enrollment of low-income immigrant families in SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, and CHIP in four states – Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Texas.